Saw these out at my local Target and could not resist picking up two value packs (three exclusive blue border mini per pack) and two blasters.

The big news for retail this year is the following: Odds per pack of having an autograph card: 1:25. And of course, you still get the minis and inserts, so with 8 packs per blaster that is pretty good odds of getting an autograph and in fact both blasters I picked up had autograph cards.

Onto the cards and inserts. Okay, they probably are not as cool as the 2010 Topps Magic Football (my favorite set ever) but these are nice looking cards. A new insert set this year is purple bordered Rookie Enchantment cards - they are pretty cool looking but oversized so in the 1:6 packs where you get one you get one less card. Bummer.

Anyway, the base cards look nice - apparently no more short prints this year according to packaging - you get a good number of rookie cards in this product unlike some. Got base Andrew Luck and RGIII.

Anyway - Here is what I was able to pull insert wise.

Autographs (1:25 according to package):

Veteran Autograph: Eric Decker, WR Denver Broncos. Not bad at all - did you know that in his two full healthy years in the NFL Eric Decker has 21 touchdowns? So i'm happy with this

Coby Fleener (wrong Colts tight end for me, i have a small collection of Dwayne Allen in the Clemson P.C.)

Morris Claiborne

Luke Kuechly

Trent Richardson

Kendall Wright

Magical Moments (1:6 packs)

I like this insert set - they are nice looking

Cam Newton

Rob Gronkowski

LeSean McCoy

Supernatural Stars (1:4 Packs)

These are honestly kind of boring with a plain black background. Probably my least favorite insert, but at least they are the most common so it shows that apparently Topps knew.

Julio Jones

Jason Pierre-Paul

Alex Smith

Jason Witten

Larry Fitzgerald

Blue Minis (three per value pack):

Bobby Rainey, RB (Rookie)

Brandon Lloyd, WR Patriots

Darren Sproles, RB Saints

Michael Crabtree WR 49ers

Darius Heyward-Bey WR Raiders

Jim Brown RB Browns (only legend card i saw in this group)

Rookie mini cards:

Isiah Pead, RB St Louis Rams (of course)

Trent Richardson RB Browns

Cyrus Gray, RB Chiefs

Ronnie Hillman RB Broncos

Notable veteran minis:

Reggie Wayne, A.J. Green, Roddy White, Matt Shaub

Overall impressions:

Really like this set - easily moves into first place for best 2012 product in my opinion although doesn't beat 2010 Topps Magic Football which is still my pick for all time best product overall. If you liked Topps Magic you will be glad to see it back. The cards look great and in the 22 packs I only got one with no insert card - and one pack had two insert cards including an autograph so hard to complain. Every pack has at least one rookie card as well.

It seems that retail gives pretty decent value. Odds of an autograph from a blaster box are 8/25 - that means that approximately 1:3 blaster boxes will have an autograph of some description. Every pack should also have some sort of insert card and at least one rookie. There are slight odds according to the package to get something really good.

Downside - the autographs are sticker autographs. With the odds, it may be a case of oversaturation (the box lists 1:3200 odds from retail for a dual autograph for example - in 2010 Topps Magic Football odds from retail for a dual autograph were about 1:26,000) of autos from mediocre or bad players. Or perhaps Topps simple isn't manufacturing very many of these. That is about it.

Overall: Topps Magic is nice enough that i may well skip Contenders this year in order to be able to get more than it. i'll definitely get at least one hobby box of Topps Magic and may well skip Contenders to get two depending upon the price. This is easily the best 2012 product in my opinion..

(02-04-2013 06:27 PM)ekalbNZ Wrote: Would love to see some scans if you get the chance.

i don't have a scanner, sorry. Hopefully some will get up here because these are nice looking cards.

(02-05-2013 01:46 PM)dow714 Wrote: If you want to sell/trade the gronk i would be interested.

i'm a big fan of Topps Magic so i'm going to keep it.

(02-05-2013 05:15 PM)gjhobbs Wrote: I recently got a few of these as well. I didn't get the auto from the blaster box, but did manage to get the auto from the 24 pack box, (Ahmad Bradshaw).

I will post mine later, but definitely found these to be some cool cards, but nothing I'm going to buy a hobby box of at this time.

The downside of hobby boxes are obvious, especially this year when just about every product i've gotten has been brutal but i really like the look of this product - and a hobby box should get me close to at least a base set.

Since the LCS reported that they aren't going to be getting the hobby boxes into until Tuesday and the general ugliness of Contenders having me decide to save my money, i couldn't resist picking up the last blaster box at the local Target.

No autograph, but hard to complain with an Andrew Luck mini, RGIII Rookie Enchantment, and a black mini (1:24 odds - so almost as rare at least from retail as autographs) of Justin Blackmon. Also a base Russell Wilson and another one of those cards with two of the same team (Matt Ryan and Roddy White, I believe). Especially when I hit autos in two and the third still beat the odds with what it had in it according to the package.